Adventures of Harriet Potter

The Journey From Platform Nine and Three Quarters

Harriet's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. True, Dudley was now so scared of Harriet he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harriet in her bedroom, force her to do anything, punish her for being female, or shout at her — in fact, they didn't speak to her at all. Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harriet in it were empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while.

Harriet kept to her room, with her new owl for company. She had decided to call her Hedwig, a name she had found in A History of Magic. Her school books were very interesting, she drank in the knowledge like it was water and she was severely dehydrated — which had happened once and was an experience she wasn't too keen to have again. She lay on her bed reading late into the night, Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice. Every night before she went to sleep, Harriet ticked off another day on the piece of paper she had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first.

On the last day of August she thought she'd better speak to her aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day, so she went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. She cleared her throat to let them know she was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room. "Er — Uncle Vernon?" She tentatively started, closing her eyes in anticipation of being taken to her room and punished for being female and daring to speak to him. Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening. "Er — I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to — to go to Hogwarts." She said with relief for whatever kept him from doing the most horrible punishment she ever endured under the roof of number four to her this time. Uncle Vernon grunted again. "Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?" She asked, crossing her arms in a way that made Aunt Petunia turn her head away for a moment. Another grunt. Harriet supposed that meant yes. "Thank you." She said in a miffed tone, turning to go back to her room. She was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke.

"Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?" Harriet didn't say anything, having read in A History of Magic that magic carpets had been outlawed in Britain years ago. "Where is this school, anyway?" Uncle Vernon asked pointedly.

"I don't know," said Harriet, realizing this for the first time. She pulled the ticket Hagrid had given her out of her pocket. "I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," she read, a bit confused about the platform number yet assuming it to be correct because she had never been inside of King's Cross station. Her aunt and uncle stared, which Harriet thought wasn't good — though Aunt Petunia had a hesitant look on her face, as if she knew something about the platform yet didn't want to tell it to Harriet. "Platform what?" Uncle Vernon asked, his tone made Harriet back up two steps and flinch. "Nine and three-quarters." Harriet repeated cautiously. "Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters."

"It's on my ticket." Harriet said, her heart sinking like the titanic until she saw Aunt Petunia biting her lip like she was intentionally holding something back. Her eyes betraying a pain Harriet had never seen in her aunt in the ten years she'd been living with the Dursleys. "Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."

"Why are you going to London?" Harriet asked, trying to keep things friendly. "Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."

Harriet woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. She got up and pulled on her jeans and a hand me down, if you could call something given to you by your cousin because it didn't fit them or they didn't want it anymore hand me down, blue shirt because she didn't want to walk into the station in her witch's robes — she'd change on the train. She checked her Hogwarts list yet again to make sure she had everything she needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. Two hours later, Harriet's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harriet, and they had set off.